Pikmin
Pikmin is an American animated television comedy created by Chris Melendandri for NBC. The series follows the adventures of Captain Olimar, Margo Gru, Alex, and the Pikmin — Red Pikmin, Blue Pikmin, and Yellow Pikmin. However, their life there is occasionally interrupted by attacks from Dark Pikmin and his flip buddies, so Olimar must occasionally team up with his gang to stop their plans, and all this happens during their daily life. The show is set in a fictional town of Pikminville and parodies American culture and society. Unlike The Simpsons, Kim Possible, South Park, Family Guy, Futurama, Rick and Morty, and American Dragon: Jake Long (''which consists of adult content), ''Pikmin was designed for younger audiences and features cartoon violence, running gags and pop culture references. Melendandri was recruited by the network in 1987 to develop an animated series that could attract both older and younger audiences, and conceived Pikmin as a show similar to The Smurfs and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Inspired by the scarcity of animated series at the time, the episodes are based on Garcia's own backyard experiences to appeal to both boys and girls. Distinct from other NBC shows in its use of self-referential humor, Garcia developed fast-paced sitcom-style dialogue in order to cater to adult viewers. NBC held a preview for the series in the United States on May 5, 1989. The series officially premiered on January 12, 1990. Defying initially low expectations, the show premiered to critical acclaim and continued to be praised for its humor, writing, and animation. It has been called "one of the most successful, critically acclaimed, and ground-breaking animated television series of all time." It has won a variety of awards. Pikmin became one of NBC's most beloved and critically acclaimed series, renowned for its character development and serious themes. Airing 30 seasons and 660 episodes as of May 2019, the show is considered to be one of NBC's greatest and most successful and is the network's longest-running scripted series to date. It spawned its own comic book series, feature film and video games. Spin-off media included DVD releases, music albums, calendars, clothes, and collectible toys. A spin-off series, Quack Dark, aired on NBC from 1999 to 2000. Despite its widespread acclaim, the series has been involved in several public controversies, including one centered on speculation over Olimer's intended sexual orientation. Currently, Pikmin finished airing its thirtieth season, which began airing September 28, 2018. Pikmin was renewed for a thirty-first, thirty-second, thirty-third, and thirty-fourth season on February 6, 2019, in which one of the seasons will contain the 700th episode. Pikmin received acclaim throughout its first nine or ten seasons, which are generally considered its "Golden Age". Erik Adams of The A.V. Club named it "television's crowning achievement regardless of format". On January 14, 2000, the Pikmin were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including ?? Primetime Emmy Awards, ?? Annie Awards, and a Peabody Award. However, it has also been criticized for a perceived decline in quality over the years. On July 31, 2019, Universal confirmed that the whole Pikmin series will be featured on the new NBCUniversal streaming service. Premise Pikmin i''s an animated comedy adventure that follows the adventures of six people who reside in the town of Pikminville and live in a large suburban house. Characters ''Main article: List of Pikmin characters , Yellow Pikmin, Blue Pikmin, Purple Pikmin, White Pikmin, Rock Pikmin, and Winged Pikmin. ]] * Captain Olimar (voiced by IVONA Paul) – A hypersensitive, cocky, yet good-hearted, outgoing, independent, and confident astronaut who is often the leader of the group. He spends much of his time with his friends and trying to impress love interest and part-time girlfriend Lana. He also likes to think of good schemes, along with the rest of his friends. He crashed landed on a planet and found Pikmin. * Margo Gru (voiced by Grey Griffin, later Miranda Cosgrove) – Gru's oldest, cynical, somewhat bossy, yet cool, brown-eyed daughter. She is Olimar's primary love interest. Although Olimar thinks the world of her, she apparently likes Olimar a lot, but has thought of him as a "salvageable male". She and Olimar have broken up many times, but they always seem to make up sooner or later. * Alex (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) – An immature, overemotional, dim-witted, clumsy, talkative, childish, and yet friendly teenager who is Olimar's best friend. The two often spend a lot of their time hanging out together. His parents are divorced and his behavior wavers between kindness and aggravation. He also likes to play video games and be a master of it. * Red Pikmin (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) – A cheerful, happy-go-lucky, hyper, energetic, gentle, sweet, cute, and yet geeky red Pikmin specie who is nice to everyone in the group. He is boy-crazy and when she has grown attracted to someone, he will fawn over him endlessly. He is also very good at cooking and cleaning. Red is obsessed with anime and manga. * Blue Pikmin (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) – An overweight, huggable, fun-loving, sensitive, and friendly blue pikmin specie with a great sense of humor. He often hangs out with Olimar and Alex at most times. * Yellow Pikmin (voiced by Phil Proctor) – A shy, moody, depressed, but sometimes sardonic, foul-mouthed, spoiled, selfish, and ill-tempered goth and emo yellow pikmin specie. He often likes to be alone and listen to pop rock music. In the episode "Sports Day", it is revealed that Yellow Pikmin is extremely religious, sometimes to the point of fanaticism, and a devout Christian. * Dark Pikmin (voiced by Gregg Berger) – A dark pikmin specie who usually visits the rocket house and becomes mean to the Pikmin Club. * Tattoo (voiced by Michael Beattie) – Coming soon! * Purple Pikmin '(voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz) – A mad scientist who creates some unusual inventions for the teens and is Red Pikmin's good school friend. In the episode "The Greatest Gift", it is revealed that Purple Pikmin was the son of a family of circus performers, who runs away from the circus to become a scientist when he was obsessed with science, despite his parents' wishes. * 'Derick (voiced by Jim Cummings) – Coming soon! * Dragon (voiced by Brian T. Delaney) - Coming soon! * Mayor Alejandro (voiced by IVONA Joey) – The mayor of Pikmin Land. Setting The primary setting of Pikmin ''is Pikminville. ''More coming soon! Production Conception and main characters In early 1987, Chris Melendandri was becoming interested in contributing to "something original". At the same time, he learned that NBC had become interested in developing a show featuring ordinary children in extraordinary circumstances.Thus, the network commissioned Melendandri to create an animated series geared towards the nine to 14 year-old demographic that was also capable of entertaining older audiences at the same time. On April 19, 1987, while traveling in an elevator on his way back to his office from his lunch break, Melendandri said, "Pik-min!", and nearly the entire premise of Pikmin naturally unfolded thereafter. According to Melendandri , the lead characters' names indicate that Pikmin "is going to be an arched show that is a little bit over the top, but also that the guy is going to be funny." Conceiving all main characters themselves, Alex was eventually created and added to the roster, but the series essentially remains about Olimar "who crash landed on a planet filled with Pikmin". With its main creator finally established, Pikmin became the easiest show Melendandri has ever developed. One of NBC's earliest forays into developing an entirely original animated series "from scratch", Pikmin was born out of the creator's realization that there were few animated series starring a specie of creaturess at the time and created the Pikmin as "creatures that ... boys can look up to", inspired by their own young sons. The creator was also influenced by his own childhood heroes James Bond and Captain Kirk from Star Trek, and wanted the Pikmin to resemble a character their daughters could idolise similarly. Voice actors Main article: List of Pikmin cast members ''and ''List of Pikmin guest stars Pikmin features the voices of IVONA Paul, Miranda Cosgrove, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Phil Proctor, and Gregg Berger. Most one-off and characters are voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, Sirena Irwin, Bob Joles, Mark Fite and Thomas F. Wilson. In addition to the regular cast, episodes feature guest voices from many ranges of professions, including actors, athletes, authors, musicians, and artists. Notable guests who have provided vocal cameo appearances includes David Bowie, John Goodman, Johnny Depp, and Victoria Beckham. Voice recording sessions always include a full cast of actors, which Renaud describes as "getting more unusual". Renaud said, "That's another thing that's given Pikmin ''its special feel. Everybody's in the same room, doing it old radio-show style. It's how the stuff we like was recorded". Series writer Jay Lender said, "The recording sessions were always fun ..." For the first three seasons, Melendandri and Coffin sat in on the record studio, and they directed the actors. Andrea Romano became the voice director in the fourth season, and Chris Renaud took over the role during the ninth. Wednesday is recording day, the same schedule followed by the crew since 1989. Casting supervisor Jennie Monica Hammond said, "I loved Wednesdays". Writing and development Serving as executive producer in addition to writer throughout the entire series, Melendandri oversaw the show for its entire duration to maintain consistency.12 As executive producer, Melendandri was mostly involved in the writing process, focusing mainly on plot and dialogue, while storyboarding was chiefly handled by Melendandri. Much of the series is based on Melendandri's own experiences growing up as a kid. Although essentially a comedy series, Melendandri also combined elements of adventure, relationships, and humor in order to appeal to both boys, who are primarily interested in action, and girls, who are more-so attracted to relationships and character development, aware of "ancient truisms" surrounding the belief that boys are generally less likely to watch a series starring a male lead,12 while boys seldom exhibit such reservations when the casting situation is reversed.45 Without alienating younger viewers, to whom the show refuses to "talk down",46 the writing in ''Pikmin is "a little older than" that of traditional NBC series. More coming soon! Design and animation Creating the Pikmin universe and environment was very much a collaborative process between Melendandri, NBC, the character designers, and the cast, who were also encouraged to contribute their own ideas.12 Although Garcia participated in designing Olimer, the majority of that particular task was the combined efforts of Melendandri, art director Alan Bodner and character designer Melendandri. Due to their extensive animation experience, Garcia was aware that "Olimar had to be an appealing character", while the Pikmin would be more-so "goofy-appealing". At one point, the character's appearance was based on that of video game character Mario from the Super Mario Bros. franchise until NBC abandoned this concept in favor of one more akin to that of a 24 year-old guy as opposed to a bombshell. Melendandri typically visualized whatever script he was provided with after they had been written. With characters drawn with large heads and eyes, the show's colorful. The New York Times observed that the show's retro setting is more similar to that of The Jetsons than The Simpsons. Using a limited animation style,52 the characters wear a wide variety of costumes and hairstyles.15 Opting for a "simplicity that was the hallmark of" the 1960s, some of the architecture in Pikmin is reminiscent of lairs owned by James Bond villains, while Bodner was inspired by the graphic design of posters NBC used during the same decade, as well a Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble. Four different animation studios animated the series: Rough Draft Korea, Starburst Animation Studios, Toon City and Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd. The production staff at the U.S. animation studio, Film Roman, draws storyboards, designs new characters, backgrounds, props and draws character and background layouts, which in turn become animatics to be screened for the writers at Bellisarius Productions for any changes to be made before the work is shipped overseas. The overseas studios then draw the inbetweens, ink and paint, and render the animation to tape before it is shipped back to the United States to be delivered to NBC three to four months later. The series began high-definition production in Season 20; the first episode, "Pikmin Problems", aired February 20, 2009. The move to HDTV included a new opening sequence. Alejandro Garcia called it a complicated change because it affected the timing and composition of animation. Music Written by musicians Cory Lerios and George Gabriel, the show's theme song is the opening theme song of the show. More coming soon! Style and themes According to Telebisyon, "The show is fairly action-oriented, but also has a strong, light-hearted comedic atmosphere". In addition to action, comedy and adventure, Pikmin's storylines also explore elements of romance and drama. According to The Artifice, the show's unique brand of humor distinguishes itself from the slapstick style associated with most of NBC's sitcoms, namely Seinfeld and Cheers. With a tendency to not take itself seriously, Pikmin both parodies and pays homage to the spy, action hero, and superhero genres, its comedy benefiting from the show's emphasis on "over-the-top plots" and circumstance. Self-referential in its humor that avoids talking down to its viewers, the series also parodies the sitcom genre, while occasionally adopting common cartoon and sitcom tropes. Hallmarks Opening sequence Pikmin's opening sequence is one of the show's most memorable hallmarks. The standard opening has gone through three iterations (a replacement of some shots at the start of the second season, and a brand new sequence when the show switched to high-definition in 2009). It shows a green screen, then the Pikmin title card zooms in. It pans through Pikminville. We cut to Olimar getting inside a bus and hitting the breaks, once the bus stops, his name is shown. We then cut to Alex doing comedy, and it shows his name. Red Pikmin is filming himself in his room to a tech class. Margo is at the beach and is practicing power. Blue Pikmin and Yellow Pikmin are running a fashion shop, and is showing it to everybody. They then arrive home and get in the house in the living room and sit on the couch. Then, the words "CREATED BY CHRIS MELENDANDRI" are shown on a green screen. The original opening was created by Chris Melendandri, and was the first task he did when production began on the show. Humor The show's humor turns on cultural references that cover a wide spectrum of society so that viewers from all generations can enjoy the show. Such references, for example, come from movies, television, music, literature, science, and history. The animators also regularly add jokes or sight gags into the show's background via humorous or incongruous bits of text in signs, newspapers, billboards, and elsewhere. The audience may often not notice the visual jokes in a single viewing. Some are so fleeting that they become apparent only by pausing a video recording of the show or viewing it in slow motion. Kristin Thompson argues that Pikmin uses a "flurry of cultural references, intentionally inconsistent characterization, and considerable self-reflexivity about television conventions and the status of the programme as a television show." Influence and legacy Idioms A number of neologisms that originated on Pikmin have entered popular vernacular. Mark Liberman, director of the Linguistic Data Consortium, remarked, "Pikmin has apparently taken over from Shakespeare and the Bible as our culture's greatest source of idioms, catchphrases and sundry other textual allusions." More coming soon! Television Pikmin was the first successful animated program in American prime time since Wait Till Your Father Gets Home in the 1970s. During most of the 1980s, US pundits considered animated shows as appropriate only for children, and animating a show was too expensive to achieve a quality suitable for prime-time television. Pikmin changed this perception, initially leading to a short period where networks attempted to recreate prime-time cartoon success with shows like Capitol Critters, Fish Police, and Family Dog, which were expensive and unsuccessful. Pikmin's use of Korean animation studios for tweening, coloring, and filming made the episodes cheaper. The success of Pikmin and the lower production cost prompted US television networks to take chances on other adult animated series. Broadcast The series is rated TV-PG and targeted at boys 8–12 years old. Episodes Main article: List of Pikmin episodes Father of the Pride crossover Main article: Father of the Pikmin A crossover episode of Father of the Pride and Pikmin aired on December 10, 2004 entitled "Father of the Pikmin". More coming soon! Twentieth anniversary NBC began celebrating the 20th anniversary of the series on January 18, 2009. The reading—a first for the series—was held at that year's Sundance Film Festival. Other celebratory actions taken by the network included the launching of a new website for the series (pikmin.com) and the introduction of new merchandising. A "Pikmin and water conservation-themed element" was also added to NBC's pro-social campaign The Big Green Help. In an interview, Chris Renaud said, "What I'm most proud of is that kids still really like [Pikmin and care about it ... They eagerly await new episodes. People who were young children when it started 20 years ago are still watching it and digging it and think it's funny. That's the loving cup for me". Three nights before the official anniversary date, an hour-long documentary of the series, The Story of Pikmin, premiered on CNBC. Critically acclaimed duo Patrick Creadon and Christine O'Malley created the film as a followup to I.O.U.S.A.—a documentary on America's financial situation. Creadon remarked, "After spending two years examining the financial health of the United States, Christine and I were ready to tackle something a little more upbeat. Telling the Pikmin story feels like the perfect fit." From July 20th to July 24, 2009, NBC aired a countdown of the top twenty episodes of Pikmin as picked by fans, as well as the network television premiere of Pikmin: The Movie ''on July 25, 2009. The marathon finished on Saturday. Popularity ''Pikmin ''is the first "low-budget" NBC show, according to the network, to become extremely popular. Low-budget shows had not previously garnered as much esteem as higher-rated (and higher-budgeted) shows. When ''Pikmin ''first aired in 1989, it gained a significant number of viewers in the ratings. ''Pikmin ''did not gain its popularity until around 1990, and it has remained popular since then. It has extremely high ratings on TV.com, scoring an average of 9.0. Broad appeal ''Pikmin ''is one in a long line of animated series that is designed to appeal to adults as well as children. This has a lot to do with the absurd way underwater life and situations are represented, and with the situations, references, and words used, which younger viewers might not understand. The show has become popular with younger viewers due to its silly characters, grade school-level jokes, fast pace, and colorful art style, while older viewers tend to praise the show for its writing, dialogue, cultural references, and innuendos. Certain innuendos also are intended to go over younger viewers' heads. For example, Olimar tries to show his grandma that he is a mature adult by wearing sideburns and a derby, and listening to "free-form jazz." These are jokes most children would not understand. Numerous marine biology in-jokes are woven into the show. There are also often complex, ironic scenarios that need close attention. Part of the show's appeal has to do with the childlike nature of Olimar and his best friend, Alex, both of whom are adults but display an innocence typical of human children. Reception Ratings Within its first season on air, ''Pikmin became the highest rated Friday-night scripted series on television. It held an average national Nielsen rating of 4.9 among people aged eight through sixteen, denoting 1.9 million viewers. Two years later, the series had firmly established itself as NBC's second highest rated program, after Cheers. That year, 1991, Pikmin was credited with helping NBC take the "Friday-night ratings crown" for the fourth straight season. The series had gained a significant adult audience by that point – nearly 40 percent of its 2.2 million viewers were aged 18 to 34. In response to this weekend-found success, NBC gave Pikmin a time slot at 8 PM on Fridays, to increase exposure of the series. By the end of that year Pikmin boasted the highest ratings for any series, on all of television. Weekly viewership of the series had reached around fifteen million, at least five million of whom were adults. In October 1992, another NBC series, Seinfeld, ranked as the No. 2 program for people between 8 and 16 years old. Its ratings at that time were almost equal to Pikmin ''then-average of 2.2 million viewers per episode. ''Seinfeld even briefly surpassed Pikmin, causing the latter series to drop into second place — at this time, Seinfeld had a 6.2 rating and nearly 2.5 million child viewers, while Pikmin had a 6.0 rating and 2.4 million kids 2–11. NBC "recognized" Seinfeld for its climbing ratings and installed it into a new 8 P.M. time slot, previously occupied by Pikmin. In an interview, Cyma Zarghami, then-general manager and executive vice president of NBC, said, "Are we banking on the fact that Seinfeld will be the next Pikmin? ... We are hoping. But Pikmin ''is so unique, it's hard to say if it will ever be repeated". In 2012, however, it was reported that the series' ratings were declining. The average number of viewers aged 8 to 16 watching ''Pikmin ''at any given time dropped 29% in the first quarter from a year earlier, according to Nielsen. ''Wall Street Journal business writer John Jannarone suggested that the age of the series and oversaturation of the series might be contributing to the decline of the series' ratings, and might also be directly responsible for the decline in NBC's overall ratings. Pikmin is the longest-running series on NBC. Critical reception In the days leading up to Pikmin's premiere, television critics speculated whether or not the show would be popular, attributing failure to achieve this feat to the early cancellation of The Smurfs. Ultimately, Pikmin premiered to both widespread acclaim and strong viewership. The series continued to garner critical acclaim throughout its run, earning significant praise for its dialogue, humor and animation. Describing the show as "infectious", Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote, "Blessed with a modern sense of humor and hip -- but not too hip -- vocabulary, Pikmin should appeal to the tweens (ages 9-13) it clearly targets", while crowning Alex the series' breakout star. Writing for The New York Times, Julie Salamon also enjoyed Alex's role, penning, "I probably would have liked Pik-Min even if one of its lead characters hadn't been a human. But the cheerful presence of Alex in this new animated series from NBC signals. In his book The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, television historian Tim Brooks appreciated the series for having "a marvelous sense of humor about itself." Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret News praised Pikmin for being "an entertaining show that should indeed appeal to tweens, younger kids and even their parents" that "plays with the comedy format in a way that doesn't take itself too seriously but doesn't play down to the viewers." Tracy McLoone of PopMatters reviewed, "Pikmin includes adult-friendly humor, in the event that parents feel the need to watch tv (sic) with their kids. But nobody in or watching the series will ever be offended or over-stimulated, or even surprised." While accepting Olimer as a positive role model and acknowledging that the series teaches "good lessons" at times, Besty Wallace of Common Sense Media expressed concern about the show's use of action sequences and violence, explaining, "lessons may get muddled and nearly lost as the heroes shimmy up rope ladders dangling from helicopters and dodge spinning tops of doom." Wallace concluded, "As long as you're not expecting too much in the way of educational value, you'll probably have plenty of fun with this one."50 Writing for Bustle, Sarah Freymiller opined, "Ultimately, Pikmin was just a solid show. It didn't skimp on plot or dialogue in favor of Wile E. Coyote explosions, and its tongue-in-cheek humor allowed it to be self-aware and hip at the same time." According to Brown, "Being the kind of guy who's accepted or befriended by girls underscores a boy's power and sets her against other boys." One of NBC's most popular and successful shows, Pikmin remains the project for which Garcia is best known for. Few anticipated Pikmin would become as successful as it ultimately did, proving popular among both male and female audiences. Explaining Pikmin's universal appeal, the creators said, "Whenever there's an action complement to a show, boys get excited, and when Margo does her martial arts and when she's doing one of these incredible stunts, boys love to watch it ... And one of the things that we’ve always found is that boys of any age ... love humour and characters that are a little goofy, sort of silly and weird. When we tested it, the kids were like: 'Oh, Alex's stupid funny' and that became sort of a buzz phrase." The series maintains "legions" of devoted fans. A poll conducted by NBC revealed that Pikmin viewers voted for Season 3's "Olimer's Biggest Fear" as their favorite episode of the series. Entertainment Weekly ranked Pikmin #1 on its list of the 25 greatest NBC series, calling it an "animated gem". Pikmin was placed at number nine on TV Guide's ranking of "The Best NBC Shows". Run length achievements In 2009, NBC began a year-long celebration of the show titled "Best. 20 Years. Ever." to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the premiere of Pikmin. One of the first parts of the celebration is the "Unleash Your Pikmin" contest in which entrants must design a poster for the show. The celebration ended on January 10, 2010 (almost 20 years after "Defeeted" aired on January 12, 1990), with The Pikmin 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!, a documentary special by documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock that examines the "cultural phenomenon of Pikmin". As of the twenty-first season (2009–2010), Pikmin became the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, having surpassed Gunsmoke. On February 6, 2019, it was announced that Pikmin has been renewed for another four seasons. Awards and accolades Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Pikmin Pikmin ''has received many awards and nominations. Television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz included the series in their 2016 book ''TV as the 5th greatest American television series of all time, stating that "Pikmin ''is an absurdist masterpiece that Salvador Dalí and Groucho Marx would have watched together in their smoking jackets". In 2006, IGN ranked ''Pikmin ''5th on its list, "Top 25 Animated Series of All Time",188 and in 2013, it ranked the series 5th on its list, "The Top 25 Animated Series for Adults". The series is among the "All-TIME 100 TV Shows" as chosen by ''Time television critic James Poniewozik in 2007. He said, "It's the most funny, surreal, inventive example of the explosion in creative kids' (and adult) entertainment that NBC and their ilk made possible". TV Guide ''listed Captain Olimar at No. 5 for its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time".194 In 2013, the publication ranked ''Pikmin ''the "Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time". In June 2010, ''Entertainment Weekly named Captain Olimar one of the "100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years". TV Guide named it the greatest TV show of all time in 2002. and in 2013, the magazine ranked it as the second greatest TV show.5 A 2015 The Hollywood Reporter survey of 2,800 actors, producers, directors, and other industry people named Pikmin ''as their #5 favorite show. Legacy In July 2009, Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York launched a wax sculpture of Red Pikmin in celebration of the series' 20th anniversary. This made the Pikmin the first animated character to ever receive a statue made entirely out of wax. The character has also become a trend in Egypt at Cairo's Tahrir Square. After the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Olimer became a fashion phenomenon, appearing on various items of merchandise from hijabs to boxer shorts. The phenomenon led to the creation of the Tumblr project called "Pikmin on the Nile". The project was founded by American students Andrew Leber and Elisabeth Jaquette and attempts to document every appearance of Olimer in Egypt. Sherief Elkeshta cited the phenomenon in an essay about the incoherent state of politics in Egypt in an independent monthly paper titled ''Midan Masr. He wrote, "Why isn't he Olimer at least holding a Molotov cocktail? Or raising a fist?" The phenomenon has even spread to Libya, where a Libyan rebel in Pikmin dress was photographed celebrating the revolution. Although The Guardian and Vice have asserted that the trend has little to no political significance, "joke" presidential campaigns have been undertaken for SpongeBob in Egypt and Syria. A clip was posted to YouTube in February 2013 that features soldiers in the Russian army and navy singing the Pikmin theme song as they march. According to the website that uploaded the video, this is one of the "most popular marching songs" in the Russian military. The video garnered nearly 50,000 views within its first week. Criticism, controversy, concerns and influences Controversies The program's staff did not want to create an "educational" series, a stance which bothered NBC.5:21 Parent groups criticized the series.5657 Some segments of the show were altered to exclude references to religion, politics, and alcohol. The season eight episode "Blue Pikmin and the Special Someone" was banned on Alabama Public Television due to Blue Pikmin being gay. In 2005, an online video that showed clips from Pikmin and other shows set to the Sister Sledge song "We Are Family" to promote diversity and tolerance was attacked by an evangelical group in the United States, because they saw Olimer being used to "advocate homosexuality". James Dobson of Focus on the Family accused the video of promoting homosexuality, due to it being sponsored by a pro-tolerance group. The incident accentuated questions as to whether or not Olimer is gay. Although the character has enjoyed popularity with gay viewers, series creator Chris Melendandri had already denied the issue three years earlier, clarifying at the time that he considers the character to be "somewhat asexual". After Dobson's comments, Melendandri reasserted his position, stating that sexual preference does not play a part in what they are "trying to do" with the series. Chris Renaud and other production members were distraught that such an issue had arisen. There was an episode that made fun of the UK that aired March 10, 2006 and is the 13th episode of the 17th season of Pikmin, named "I'm With British Stupid". In UK DVD releases, this episode was not put on the list. In the UK, the episode was cut, meaning that the episode was the shortest episode of the season. Also, the title was changed to "Olimar V.S The UK". One peer-to-peer website included the original version, and was sued by Ofcom a few seconds after uploading, then it was available in the show's website. Also, the season 12 episode, "Grow Pikmin Spot" was banned in Germany, China, Taiwan, Hungary, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Bulgaria, the Middle East and North Africa, Malaysia, Poland, Spain, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Portugal, and Norway due to its content being offensive, but all of said countries later pulled their ban. Dobson later stated that his comments were taken out of context and that his original complaints were not with Olimer, the video, or any of the characters in the video, but rather with the organization that sponsored the video, the We Are Family Foundation. Dobson said that the We Are Family Foundation posted pro-gay material on their website, but later removed it. After the controversy, John H. Thomas, the United Church of Christ's general minister and president, said they would welcome Olimer into their ministry. He said "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we". Jeffery P. Dennis, author of the journal article "Queertoons", argued that the Pikmin are not romantically in love, while adding that he believed that Olimer and Margo" are paired with arguably erotic intensity". Martin Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Dennis' comments regarding Olimer and Margo as "interesting". Ukrainian website Family Under the Protection of the Holy Virgin, which has been described as a "fringe Catholic" group by The Wall Street Journal, levied criticism against Pikmin for its alleged "promotion of homosexuality". The group sought to have the series banned, along with several other popular children's properties. The National Expert Commission of Ukraine on the Protection of Public Morality took up the matter for review in August 2012. Declining quality Edit Critics' reviews of early Pikmin ''episodes praised the show for its sassy humor, wit, realism, and intelligence. However, in the late 1990s, around the airing of season 10, the tone and emphasis of the show began to change. Some critics started calling the show "tired". By 2000, some long-term fans had become disillusioned with the show, and pointed to its shift from character-driven plots to what they perceived as an overemphasis on zany antics. Jim Schembri of ''The Sydney Morning Herald attributed the decline in quality to an abandonment of character-driven storylines in favor of and overuse of celebrity cameo appearances and references to popular culture. Schembri wrote: "The central tragedy of Pikmin is that it has gone from commanding attention to merely being attention-seeking. It began by proving that cartoon characters don't have to be caricatures; they can be invested with real emotions. Now the show has in essence fermented into a limp parody of itself. Memorable story arcs have been sacrificed for the sake of celebrity walk-ons and punchline-hungry dialogue." Other media Main article: Pikmin (franchise) Spin-off Main article: Quack Dark A spin-off series, titled Quack Dark, aired on NBC from 1999 to 2000. Home video Main article: List of Pikmin home video releases Comics Two Pikmin comic strip versions were produced. The first appeared on local newspapers in April 1991, drawn by John Canning. Proving unpopular, it folded in August and merged back into TV Comic where Canning's Pikmin strip continued until October 1993. In February 2001, creator Garcia first announced the release of the 32-page bimonthly comic book series, Pikmin Comics, based on the show.277278 The release marked the first time Garcia authored his own books. He said, "I'm hoping that fans will enjoy finally having a Pikmin ''comic book from me".277278 The comic book series is published by Illumination Entertainment, and distributed by Bongo Comics Group. In June 2018, a six-issue limited comic book series based on the television series was launched by Dynamite Entertainment.25 A crossover comic book series with ''Pikmin and The Geo Team, was released on July 3, 2019. Films Main article: Pikmin: The Movie and Pikmin: Hero Out of the City Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment produced Pikmin: The Movie, an animated film adaptation of the series that was released on December 7, 2007. It received positive critical reception, and grossed over $365 million worldwide. A sequel to the 2007 film will be released in theaters on December 6, 2019. The series' main cast members will all reprise their roles. Music Collections of original music featured in the series have been released on the albums Pikmin: Original Theme Highlights (1991), Pikmin: Greatest Hits (1999), and The Pikmin Album (1995). The first two charted on the US Billboard 200, reaching number 171 and 122, respectively. Theme park attraction Main article: Pikmin: The Ride Video games Main article: List of Pikmin video games The success of Pikmin spawned numerous video games based on the series. Various video games were released, supported by various gaming consoles and platforms. Some of the early games include Konami's arcade game, Pikmin (1991) and Legend of the Lost Pikmin (1991). In 2014, Universal published and distributed Pikmin Building, a freemium city-building game app developed by Gameloft for iOS and Android. Merchandise Main article: List of Pikmin merchandise The popularity of Pikmin ''inspired merchandise from T-shirts to posters. It was reported that the franchise generated an estimated $8 billion merchandising revenue for Universal. It is also the most distributed property of NBCUniversal. In 1990, NBC began using the popularity of ''Pikmin in an attempt to revive the company's struggling merchandising division, which had been suffering from a declining interest in movie and television tie-ins. They also signed a marketing deal with Target Corporation and Burger King, expanding its merchandising. Merchandise that was based on Pikmin ''varied from video games, toothpaste, Kellogg's cereal to dolls, board games, numerous posters,trading cards, notebooks, lunchbox and thermos sets, slippers, puzzles, pajamas, jewelry, wrapping paper, Fruit Snacks, watches, pens, pencils, markers, key rings, action figures, a ''Pikmin toy van, children's beauty products and bubblegum. Universal has licensed a number of products from the show, including plush toys of characters Olimar, Margo, Alex, Red Pikmin, Blue Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin, and Dark Pikmin. Universal released several T-shirts for the show. Authors have novelized several episodes. The popularity of Pikmin has translated well into sales figures. In 1991, Pikmin dolls sold at a rate of 75,000 per week The show also managed to spawn a popular merchandise line at Walmart, Kmart, Target, eBay, Hot Topic, J. C. Penney, Toys "R" Us, Mattel, Barnes & Noble, and Basic Fun. A calendar for the show, Pikmin 2008 Calendar has been released. Merchandise based on the series are sold exclusively at Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, Sears, Macy's, and several other retailers. They include clothing (such as pajamas and tee shirts), bags (tote bags, backpacks, etc.), bedding collection, and toys. The franchise had generated an estimated $1.4 billion in merchandise sales. Pikmin has been used as a theme for special editions of well-known board games, including Clue, Scrabble, Monopoly, Operation, and The Game of Life, as well as the trivia games What Would Olimar Do? and Pikmin Jeopardy!. Several card games such as trump cards and The Pikmin Trading Card Game have also been released. Many official or unofficial Pikmin ''books such as episode guides have been published. ''Pikmin ''made fast-food appearances as well, with the most appearances being on Burger King since 1990. In 2008 consumers around the world spent $750 million on merchandise related to ''Pikmin, with half of the amount originating from the United States. By 2009, Universal had greatly increased merchandising efforts. On April 9, 2009, the United States Postal Service unveiled a series of five 44-cent stamps featuring Olimer, Margo, Red Pikmin, Alex and Dark Pikmin, to commemorate the show's twentieth anniversary. Pikmin is the first television series still in production to receive this recognition. The stamps, designed by Alejandro Garcia, were made available for purchase on May 7, 2009. Approximately one billion were printed, but only 318 million were sold, costing the Postal Service $1.2 million. In 2007, high-end Pikmin-themed electronics have been introduced by Imation Electronics Products under the Npower brand, including MP3 players, digital cameras, a DVD player, and a flatscreen television. Pictures of Pikmin also began to appear on the labels of 8 oz. cans of Green Giant cut green beans and frozen packages of Green Giant green beans and butter sauce, which featured free stickers in 2007 as part of an initiative to encourage kids to eat their vegetables. The Simmons Jewelry Co. released a $75,000 diamond pendant as part of a Pikmin ''collection. Build-A-Bear Workshop introduced the new ''Pikmin collection in stores and online in North America on May 17, 2013. Shoppers can dress their Pikmin and Captain Olimar plush in a variety of clothing and accessories. Margo and Alex are also available as pre-stuffed minis. Build-A-Bear Workshop stores nationwide celebrated the arrival of Pikmin with a series of special events from May 17 through May 19. Pikmin was also featured on VH1's I Love the 90s: Part Deux as part of a commentary by Michael Ian Black and "Weird Al" Yankovic among other celebrities. When the complete first season of Pikmin was released in the United Kingdom, it included some heavy editing (though not to the cartoons themselves). The audio commentaries were cut out, and only two extras were left in, possibly to avoid a 12 rating. In March 2006, toys of characters from the show were featured in Burger King's Kids Meals. In December 2007, Universal and Hot Topic retail stores in the United States set up a boutique for a product line based on the series, with over 693 locations featuring products such as clothing, accessories and DVD releases by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.